The Killables by Gemma Malley

Everyone accepted that people were different physically. But inside? Inside, they were different too. You just had to know how to tell, what to look for.

Evil has been eradicated. The City has been established. And citizens may only enter after having the ‘evil’ part of their brain removed. They are labelled on The System according to how ‘good’ they are. If they show signs of the evil emerging, they are labelled a K, but no one knows quite what that means. Only that they disappear, never to be seen again…

The City was established on the remains of London after a series of wars called the Horrors devastated the world to keep goodness and morality in and evil out. People are only allowed to enter if they agree to have the evil part of their brain removed. They have a labeling method called the System that tracks citizens’ every move and assigns each of them letters that they must wear based on moral behavior. However, just because you have a good letter now doesn’t mean you’re safe. Step out of line and the System knows; you can easily be reassigned to a lower letter, bringing shame to your family and friends. In some cases, the System determines that the part of the brain that causes evil behavior has grown back, and the evil-doer is designated a K and taken away for a procedure called “New Baptism.”

Evie is a B who has grown up safely inside the City walls, but she knows that deep down, evil may have taken root in her already. She is engaged to Lucas, a handsome and influential, albeit cold, A on the path to success in a government job. She has everything that any girl in the City should want. But that doesn’t stop her from doing evil things like dreaming about a strange man holding her at night and sneaking off for secret visits to Lucas’ brother Raffy, who is “beneath her letter” and somewhat of an outcast in the community. She sees how horribly people treat a citizen who has been demoted a letter and secretly questions the whole system, but she still goes about her business and tries to be good.

When Raffy discovers a glitch in the System and may be made a K simply for pointing out the System’s flaws, Evie learns the sinister truth about what really happens to the citizens that are labeled as Ks. Will a girl that has been trained to be good her whole life have the courage to stand up to a system that isn’t working?

I give The Killables five out of five stars. This book is absolutely a must-read for anyone looking for a fresh dystopian concept or anyone who’s just looking for a good read!

Just a side-note—I got totally pulled in by this cover art. I love the bold use of color, fairly minimal imagery, and just a tad scary. Add in that Orwellian tagline, “Evil must be identified,” and it just draws you in. A+ for cover illustration!